Political and Legislative
Timeline of How Long States Have to Count Votes

(CNN)President Donald Trump tried to declare victory in the presidential election early Wednesday.
But he hasn’t won, because all the votes haven’t been counted — and in some ways, the process is just getting started.
While Americans vote on or before Election Day, picking the US president is actually a months-long process and the election is just one step.
The system is especially confusing because voters only cast ballots to determine which candidate gets to send a handpicked group of allies known as electors to the Electoral College, where the actual presidential vote takes place. (Here’s a refresher on that.)
The whole timeline is below.